Report calls for investigation into Scotland Yard's treatment of whistleblower
after finding ministers were "lamentably complacent" in tackling
concerns about accuracy of recorded crime statistics

Senior police officers have allowed misrecording of crime figures to become "ingrained" across England and Wales, MPs have warned.

A hard-hitting report said there was strong evidence that the fall in crime had been "exaggerated" in official statistics, and that police chiefs, ministers and official bodies were guilty of “long-standing failures”.

MPs blamed the police - including chief officers - for allowing “lax” standards to affect the way crime is recorded, but stopped short of estimating how much of the problem was due to deliberate manipulation of figures.

The UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) withdrew national statistics designation from all crime data recorded by the police because of “accumulating evidence” that data collected by the 43 police forces may not be reliable.

In the new report by MPs the UKSA itself was criticised along with the Home Office for being “too passive” in the face of long-running concerns.

And the report condemned as “deplorable” the way the Office for National Statistics had published the crime figures with so little quality control.

The report noted the figures suggested overall crime fell 38 per cent in the 10 years from 2003.

“We have seen an accumulation of substantial and credible evidence ... that ... the police recorded crime data does not correctly represent the rate of decrease in crime or the composition of crime,” it concluded.

The report expressed concern that police and crime commissioners (PCCs) are setting specific targets to reduce the number of reported crimes, even though this could “create perverse incentives to misrecord crime”.

Research by the committee found 16 PCCs had set specific numerical targets, such as in Hampshire which has been told to cut overall crime by 12 per cent.

“We deprecate such target setting in the stringest possible terms,” the MPs said.

They called on the Home Office to make clear that PCCs should not set performance targets based on recorded crime figures.